Tabitha Simmons, the barefoot shoe designer

Tabitha Simmons, the barefoot shoe designer

In the 1960s television show Bewitched, Samantha’s young daughter, Tabitha, was possessed of magical powers. It might be the name. In a recent chat with British-born, New York-based designer Tabitha Simmons, I cannot help but think of sorcery. At Holt Renfrew to promote her line of high-end, feminine footwear, Simmons is tall and pretty, dressed in a floaty frock and a pair of her Bailey floral stilettos (open-toed, corset-laced and slightly butched up with a pair of skinny ankle straps). She laughs warmly and chats with ease — so much so that by the end of the interview, I am prepared to believe that her five-inch signature heels pass a “comfort trial of daily wear” (she test-drives all the shoes herself), and that while at the deep end of most budgetary constraints (the line ranges from $500 to $1,900 a pair), some vertiginous statement sandals are just what I need this season. I am under a slight spell.

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Simmons’ eponymous line had been long in the works, the end result of her “massive passion for shoes.” A reputable stylist who works both in print (Vogue, Dazed & Confused) and for the runway (Alexander McQueen, Calvin Klein), Simmons had “thinking time” to secure her aesthetic — described variously as girly, strong, eccentric — and establish the partnerships, sales teams and factories that could translate this look into retail product in 2009. “It’s been a kind of organic process,” she says.

It is true her mother forbade her to wear heels as a young girl (and true, too, that there is sweet revenge in now creating some of the spindliest heels available); Simmons also recalls deliberately scuffing the toes of her sensible shoes in retaliation. But it wasn’t until her student days, when she worked in a shop as a “Saturday girl,” that she had a revelatory moment: She laid eyes on a pair of Manolo Blahnik stilettos. They were high heels. High luxury. And “pointed — something I was never allowed!” Simmons remembers saving for weeks to afford them. Blahnik remains one of her design icons.

While she counts fashion royalty such as Alexa Chung and Karen Elson amongst her fans, the opulence of her shoes appeals to regular women, too. At a reception once, Simmons recalls, a stranger walked up to her and inquired, in a French accent, if she was “the lady that makes shoes?” And then promptly started to cry. The designer laughs while recounting this. “I was getting really worried, really anxious, wondering maybe if her heel had broken or something? But no! The woman had worn a pair of my shoes on her wedding day, and she said they helped make her day so beautiful, and they were so comfortable, and that she just loved them so much!”

But Simmons is anchored in reality by her personal life: Her two young sons are nonplussed by the glamour of her footwear; they are more excited by a newly acquired hamster. She recently took her son into a shop and showed him a pair on display. “Look! Mummy made these shoes!” And her son looked, and nodded, and then asked, “Did you make the table as well?” And then there’s the footwear restrictions in her own house: Her fashion photographer husband, Craig McDean, discourages stilettos as damaging to their gleaming floors, and Simmons as often as not finds herself padding around barefoot.

Except when out and about. And whether in meetings or out with her boys, Simmons insists that whatever she puts on in the morning stays on her foot all day. So while she holds fast to the wearability of the heels, she admits motherhood has influenced her work. There are flat, studded “Beatle” boots (for fall 2012) with just enough punk to add dash to the daily school run. There are little floral sneakers that would complement any sundress on a day in the park. And the designer’s pick for spring 2012 is the Florence Cricket Stripe platform espadrille, pictured above. They are adorably girly, but with a nice bit of chunk in the rope sole. Their biggest endorsement comes from Simmons’ personal experience: She comfortably wore them around Disneyland for two solid days. And was likely the envy of Disney princesses everywhere.

JUST THE FACTS

Blog: Quirky-beautiful images with a single line of text. Simmons takes 99% of the photos and they are “mostly just of things I really, really like.”
Social Media: A Twitter exchange between Simmons and stylist Edward Enninful resulted in the naming of the “Wicked” bootie.Collaborations: Strappy, tasselled, golden ballet flats for up-and-coming design team Creatures of the Wind for fall 2012.